Kaiyō Maru in 1867–1868
History
Tokugawa Shogunate
Name	Kaiyō Maru
Ordered	1863
Builder	C.Gips and Sons,Dordrecht, Netherlands
Laid down	August 1863
Launched	3 November 1865
Commissioned	10 September 1866
Fate	Became part of navy ofEzo Republic 1868
Ezo Republic
Name	Kaiyō Maru
Acquired	1868
Fate	Wrecked 15 November 1868
General characteristics
Type	Frigate
Displacement	2,590 long tons (2,632 t)
Length	72.2 m (236 ft 11 in)o/a
Beam	13.04 m (42 ft 9 in)
Draught	6.4 m (21 ft 0 in)
Propulsion	Coal-fired auxiliary steam engine, 400 hp
Sail plan	Ship-rigged 3-masted sailboat Sail area 20,970 m2 (225,700 sq ft)
Speed	10knots (12 mph; 19 km/h)
Armament	18 × 16 cm (6 in) guns 8 × 30-pounder guns 5 more cannons later

Kaiyō Maru (開陽丸) was one of Japan's first modernwarships, afrigate powered by both sails and steam. She was built in the Netherlands, and served in theBoshin War as part of the navy of theTokugawa shogunate, and later as part of the navy of theRepublic of Ezo. She was wrecked on 15 November 1868, offEsashi,Hokkaido, Japan.

Kaiyō Maru was ordered in 1863, and built byCornelis Gips and Sons, atDordrecht,Netherlands, for a sum of 831,200 guilders.^[1] Her construction was overseen by a Japanese military mission under Uchida Masao and Akamatsu Noriyoshi.^[2] She was launched in October 1866,^[3] and anchored before Vlissingen on 23 October.^[4]Kaiyō Maru arrived in Japan in November of the same year.^[5] She was the largest wooden warship ever built by a Dutch shipyard at the time.^[6] She was 240 feet (73 m) long.^[1]

In January 1868Kaiyō Maru was engaged in the navalbattle of Awa offAwaji Island, where she,Banryū Maru andHazuru Maru battled against theSatsuma Navy'sKasuga Maru,Hōō Maru, andHeiun Maru. During the battle,Hōō Maru was sunk off the coast ofAwa.^[7]

In late January 1868,Kaiyō Maru,Kanrin Maru,Hōō Maru, and five other modern ships fled toHokkaido, under AdmiralEnomoto Takeaki. They carried a handful of French military advisors, and their leaderJules Brunet. While in Hokkaido, they became a part of the navy of the short-livedEzo Republic, founded by Enomoto Takeaki.^[8]Kaiyō Maru became theflagship of the navy of the Ezo Republic, but she soon was wrecked offEsashi,Hokkaido, Japan, during a storm on 15 November 1868. The steamshipShinsoku made a rescue attempt, but it too sank.^[9]

The guns andship chandlery ofKaiyō Maru were discovered on the seafloor on 14 August 1968 by the submarineYomiuri-Gō (読売号). Further remains were discovered but project financing prevented the salvage at that time however several items were recovered in 1969.Dives were conducted in August 1974 that confirmed a need forexcavation of the extensive remains. Full scale excavation of the wreck from a depth of 15 m (49 ft) began in June 1975. The salvage of portions of the wreck located in the open sea were completed in seven years. The inland portions of the wreck were slowed by poorvisibility. Costs for the salvage totaled over 3 millionyen by 1985.^[10]Desalinization of the recovered artifacts began upon recovery.^[11] A replica ofKaiyō Maru was constructed in 1990. She is now on display at the docks in Esashi and has become a tourist attraction showing the salvaged remains of the original ship.^[12]

• Black, John Reddie (1881).Young Japan: Yokohama and Yedo. Trubner & Company.ISBN 9781354805008.{{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
• Blussé, Leonard; Remmelink, Willem; Smits, Ivo (2000).Bridging the Divide: 400 Years, the Netherlands–Japan. Leiden: Hotei Publishing.ISBN 978-9074822244.
• Catharinus, Johannes Lijdius; Meerdervoort, Pompe van; Pino, E.; Bowers, John Z. (1970).Doctor on Desima: Selected Chapters from J.L.C. Pompe van Meerdervoort's Vijf Jaren in Japan [Five Years in Japan] (41st ed.). Sophia University. p. 62.OCLC 1287231.
• Fogel, Joshua; Reischauer, Edwin O.; Rapoport, Mitchell (1979).Japan '79: A New York Times Survey. New York: Arno Press.ISBN 9780405117534.
• Irish, Ann B. (2009).Hokkaido: A History of Ethnic Transition and Development on Japan's Northern Island. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Co.ISBN 9780786454655.
• Keene, Donald (2010).Emperor of Japan Meiji and His World, 1852–1912. New York: Columbia University Press.ISBN 9780231518116.
• Morris, J. (1906).Makers of Japan. Methuen & Company. p. 89.ISBN 9781290943482.{{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
• Marr, John C. (1970).The Kuroshio: A Symposium on the Japan Current. Honolulu: East-West Center Press.ISBN 9780824800901.
• Otterspeer, Willem (1989).Leiden Oriental Connections 1850–1940. Leiden: Brill.ISBN 978-90-04-09022-4.
• Torimoto, Ikuko (2016).Okina Kyuin and the Politics of Early Japanese Immigration to the United States, 1868–1924. McFarland.ISBN 9781476627342.

• Araki, S (1985)."Ruins on the ocean floor (Salvaging the Kaiyo Maru)".In: Mitchell, CT (Ed). Diving for Science…1985. Archived from the original on April 15, 2013. Retrieved2012-04-05.

• A replica of theKaiyō Maru in Esashi(in Japanese)

41°51′57″N140°07′02″E / 41.8658°N 140.1172°E /41.8658; 140.1172

• Museum ships in Japan
• Shipwrecks in the Sea of Japan
• Shipwrecks of Japan
• Three-masted ships
• 1865 ships
• Japan–Netherlands relations
• Rangaku
• Ships of the Tokugawa Navy
• Ships of the Republic of Ezo Navy
• Maritime incidents in November 1868
• Ships built in the Netherlands
• Auxiliary steamers
• Steamships of Japan

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